The Best Advice I’d Give My 30 Year Old Self

Stop auditioning for other people’s approval. You don’t need to shrink, soften, or sand down your edges. The people who matter will love you exactly as you are, and the ones who don’t… well, they can go find a hobby.

When we’re younger, we contort ourselves into shapes that don’t fit — boxes we think we should squeeze into just to belong. And I get it. Everyone wants their person, their girl gang, their mothership. We’re wired for connection, and sometimes that longing makes us dim our own light just to be invited into someone else’s room.

But here’s the truth I wish 30‑year‑old me had known:

If they are truly your people, you won’t have to audition. You won’t have to shrink. You won’t have to pretend.

Your people will let you shine and cheer while you do it. They’ll hold you when you cry and lift you back up .They’ll laugh with you when you fly your freak flag — never at you.

Belonging isn’t something you earn by being less. It’s something you feel when you’re allowed to be fully, unapologetically more.

Soak it up — all of it — because time really does fly.

You think you have forever. You think the people, the moments, the seasons of your life will wait patiently for you to circle back when you’re ready. But they won’t. Life moves, shifts, grows, and slips through your fingers faster than you can imagine.

So, soak it up.

Soak up the late-night laughter, the messy houses full of tiny shoes, the friendships that feel like oxygen, the quiet mornings when the world hasn’t asked anything of you yet. Soak up the ordinary days, because one day you’ll look back and realize they were the extraordinary ones.

Don’t rush through your life trying to get to the “next thing.” Don’t shrink yourself to fit into someone else’s expectations. Don’t wait to enjoy the life you’re living.

Be present. Be bold. Be awake to your own joy.

Because time really does fly — but the way you pay attention is how you make it count.

What advice would you give your younger self?